RESTAURANT REVIEW : Authentic Delights at the Kitchen

I knew I’d found the new Authentic Kitchen on San Vicente Boulevard, just east of Barrington Avenue in Brentwood, not because of any sign, but because of a small crowd leaning against the newspaper vending machines, hugging their shoulders, gazing hungrily at the plates of those dining outside. The parent restaurant, the famous Authentic Cafe on Beverly Boulevad is, after all, as notorious for its queue as for its large portions of multiethnic food.

Once inside this fledgling Authentic, I am worried: The small room, with its muted primary colors, squiggly light fixtures, checkerboard floor and mere handful of tables could never accommodate the incoming hordes. A man in black--all the servers dress entirely in black--assures me that shortly, the restaurant is expanding next door: 45 more seats. Whew!

That evening, and several others, the two of us are seated immediately: Larger groups are going to wait. Rock ‘n’ roll bounces off the walls and galvanized tin roof, just loud enough to make anyone talking start to yell. At times, the room reaches such a pitch of music and clanking kitchen noises and people hollering, you just have to suspend communication with your fellow humans.

“We prefer chamber music,” says our 60-something neighbor. Still, he and his wife linger through dessert. Basically, this stylish, moderately priced restaurant has good, cross-generational appeal; we see young hipsters on dates; older couples, a lot of parent-child action.

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I’ve learned to start with freshly made juice drinks: cooling watermelon, thick, pulpy orange, a mild, not-too-sweet lemonade.

The Authentic folk aptly call their food “handmade ethnic cuisine,” and the range stretches from great tuna tacos to Thai rice paper rolls to falafel with hummus.

Almost all small plates are direct, well-executed, pretty darn good. I am least excited about Sichuan chicken dumplings, which need a less rich black bean sauce and a few more minutes in the water to soften the noodle. Fresh corn tamales, wrapped in banana leaves, have a heady corn-intensive sweetness. With just the right crunch and a ramekin of spicy ginger aioli, the fried calamari may be one of this city’s best versions of the ubiquitous dish.

In a sticky-sweet, caramelized guava-coconut glaze, baby back pork ribs are especially good. Try them with minty fresh romaine hearts, tomatoes, feta and olives, a salad that is miraculously juicy without being oily.

My favorite small plate, although scarcely small, may be the three vegetable sopes, charming masa cups drenched in a New Mexican red chile sauce and filled with chopped cactus and tomatoes, corn and queso fresco.

Large plates are indeed large. And multifaceted. Half of a very spicy, earthy jerked chicken comes with a huge dollop of gingered yams, two unremarkable corn-bread sticks and a grilled ear of sweet corn, still half dressed in its husk. The pleasure of eating this cob includes scattering flakes of blackened husk in a wide radius.

Skirt steak, tender and suffused with Chinese oyster sauce, rests on bitter greens and long-cooked onions; there’s jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk and flecked with black sesame seeds on the side.

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Some dishes, if you haven’t seen them before, have a low recognizability factor. “There’s the snapper in a sesame crust,” says a friend. “Or is it a turkey cutlet? Or that sea bass rolled in chopped cashews?” No matter; although some of these entrees can be over-built, and some totter toward a generic murkiness, the best are terrific. The sea bass, for example, is sweet and moist in that cashew crust; it plays well with the rich mango, avocado and ginger salsa, and more of that sweet jasmine rice. Baby bok choy, smoky from the grill, has a sauce that’s too sweet.

Jambalaya’s smoky chicken, garlic-rich sausage and spicy rice set up the sweet silkiness of fresh, barely cooked rock shrimp. For a bit of crunch, there are deep-fried green tomatoes.

If you haven’t saved room for dessert, don’t feel bad. Except for a very nice crumb-topped raspberry pie, I didn’t find much I’d take over another bite of tamale or sea bass.

* Authentic Kitchen, 11690 San Vicente Blvd., (310) 571-0868. Open 7 days for lunch and dinner. No alcohol. No reservations. Visa and MasterCard accepted. Dinner for two, food only $24-$52.